Being my travels down those great two lane highways of this nation as well as news I learn about them from media sources. Since I'm also very interested in historic preservation, there will be a lot of that as well.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

We had been considering visiting Ernie Edwards at the nursing home we heard he was at in Lincoln, Illinois. Knowing how much he likes talking with people, we figured he would be pretty miserable in a nursing home if he didn't get a lot of visitors.

We were fortunate that Lulu and Barb took the initiative and stopped off for a visit both on and coming back from the Missouri 66 Motor Tour. They gave us the address of the place and told us Ernie definitely wanted to see fellow 66ers.

After stopping at Hallie's on the Lincoln Court House Square for lunch (where you can get an original so we didn't arrive during the home's lunch, we went to the place (which is on an old alignment of Route 66).

On the way up to the second floor, a nurse told us they had tried to get Ernie to play Bingo, but he would have nothing to do with it. We suggested letting him call the numbers. She replied that they'd never finish the game if they did. I guess they know him.

We found him on the second floor, sitting by himself. And, he was sure happy to see us. No big surprise, he is not happy to be there and wants to get back to his home. He said that Fran was having an operation at the hospital today, but hadn't heard anything about it.

He seemed a bit confused at first, but once he started telling his stories, he was the same Old Coot on Route 66 that we had known for all these years.